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Show K j WHAT A SOLDIER TOLD THE EDITOR. A returned Ogden soldier an officer in conversation with th? editor of The Standard, was asked: - "What do you know of the atrocities committed by the Germans? "Well, I must confess," said the officer, "much of what we read was propaganda. There were crimes against women, but do you know that in Coblenz offenses of that kind have been charged against otir own men. and there are three soldiers now serving 25 years for attacking a German girl. Those brutal acts are chargeable against , all armies." 1 Then the officer went on to relate other phases of the war, such as the deportations, in which he said our reports were greatly cxagger- Iated. The conversation, from the point of view of the editor, was disconcerting dis-concerting as we have held firmly to the belief that the Germans were responsible for many horrors. Repeating the statement to another Ogden officer, the second soldier sol-dier took issue With the first and said he had personal knowledge of many outrages. With this conflict of evidence, the editor has reached the conclusion conclu-sion that there was a campaign carried on in America for the purpose of embittering the people, and the publicity was attended by extreme exaggeration. There were crimes perpetrated by the Germans some of them horrible outrages but the army as a whole was not as brutalized bru-talized or as debased as represented. 5 Though this forces us to amend many sharp articles written during the war, there is a comforting thought in this : Human kind is very much the same the world over. The good is i mixed with the bad, and with it all, we are justified in having confi-1 Ijjl dencc in the common people, whether they be Germans, French. Italians Ital-ians or Americans. It means much for the future of the world, if this be true, as it offers the assurance that out of the European tragedy and the world upset there will conv mutual confidence, when the people peo-ple rule, as is provided for in doing away with the monarchies of Europe. I This officer who gave the Germans a good word also surprised us by stating he had no faith in the covenant of peace. He said the nations we aided had become ingrates; that our friends had turned enemies, and our enemies friends, and he was for getting out of Europe Eu-rope and staying out, "and forever after minding our own affairs." The officer, in our opinion, is wrong. He is wrong because, in judging harshly, he has lost faith in people. To the contrary, we have had our faith strengthened by his own testimony. If. after all that has been charged, the Germans are sound in morals, though then leaders were brutes, why is it not fair to assume the French and British Brit-ish and Italians as a whole are equally fair minded and generously I disposed? The Standard has confidence :n all those great nationalities and is ready to trust them the moment the purposes of the multitude are I given expression in government. We admit that jealousies may have developed friction and that I seemingly Europe has no further u?e for us. It is nothing more than a passing whim, a fleeting fancy. The people of all those countries, as the years begin to blot out the petty things of the present, leaving in bold relief only the great outstanding achievements of America, will bless the day the Stars and Stripes burst into view at Chateau Thierry and turned back the forces of tyranny and despair. France will love us, Great Britain will love us. Italy wiH love us, tho World will respect us, if we complete the work begun and continue con-tinue to counsel with those who have taken us by the hand in a firm resolve to have done with war. |